and said, " Give me of your bark, O Birch-tree," 

 and the tree with all its branches, rustled in the 

 breeze of morning, saying, " Take my cloak, O 

 Hiawatha ! " Then he called upon the Cedar, 

 " Give me of your boughs, O Cedar! my canoe 

 to make more steady," and the terrified cedar 

 whispered, bending downward, "Take my boughs, 

 O Hiawatha ! " Then he went to the Larch-tree, 

 and the Fir-tree, and last of all to the Hedgehog 

 for quills to make a girdle for his beautiful boat, 

 and so the birch canoe was builded in the valley 

 by the river, and it floated like a yellow water- 

 lily, and Hiawatha sailed down the rushing 

 Taquamenah, and cleared its bed of root and 

 sandbar. 



And now we come to the time when Hiawatha 

 went a-fishing. He went 



" Forth upon the Gitche Gumee, 

 On the shining big sea water, 

 With his fishing line of cedar 

 Of the twisted bark of cedar, 

 Forth to catch the Sturgeon Nahma, 

 Mishe-Nahma, King of Fishes, 

 In his birch canoe exulting 

 All alone went Hiawatha. 

 Waited vainly for an answer, 

 Long sat waiting for an answer, 

 And repeating, loud and louder, 

 ' Take my bait, O King of Fishes !' " 



Down in the depths he could see the fishes 

 swimming; the yellow perch, the sahwa, the 



